Many different outlets are used to deliver marketing information, such as advertisements, to consumers. For example, television shows, movies, magazines, newspapers, web-page and e-mail often include some form of advertisements that are intended to be viewed or read by an audience that receives the content. Typically, the advertisements are provided in content in an attempt to reach a certain demographic that is expected to consume the content. Thus, common advertisements are delivered to a broad audience in hopes of reaching at least a few individuals that are interested in the content of the advertisement. For example, advertisements are often paired up with a complementary type of content in an attempt to target a certain demographic. In some instances, content providers go a step further, attempting to identify an individual user and tailor the advertisements to target that specific consumer. For example, targeting internet users based on their behavior, demographic, or preferences is growing in importance as advertisers attempt to improve efficiency and effectiveness of online advertising. Unfortunately, gathering the required marketing information about a user is often difficult and fraught with privacy concerns. In an attempt to provide advertisements that a consumer is more likely to respond to, advertisers are pressuring publishers and ad networks to learn as much as possible about individual consumers such that advertisements can be tailored to the individual. In the internet arena, this is commonly done by observing the internet content customers view/visit and trying to extrapolate information about the consumer such that advertisements provided to that consumer can be narrowly tailored to their demographic. Unfortunately, demographic information available to advertisers is limited. Even base attributes like gender are difficult to obtain. For example, although some techniques attempt to triangulate geographic location (address) of an internet user, and thereby extrapolate a socioeconomic status of the respective household, these methods are unreliable at best. In an effort to improve the acquisition of demographic information, some organizations track (or have attempted to track) customers across different websites.
Tracking customer behavior, however, can lead to serious customer objections with regard to their privacy. A user may be concerned about “big brother” observing and tracking their behavior, and may become even more concerned that they do not know what information has been collected. For example, internet users often express concern that as information accrues, individual are less anonymous and more easily identified personally. While many privacy pundits do not object to anonymously tracking individuals within the confines of a single website, they grow very concerned when that tracking extends to include several websites, or the Internet at large. As a result, content providers and advertisers are often limited to conservative approaches for identifying consumer demographics that provide limited data relating to their customers, and attempts to be more aggressive in obtaining the demographic information is receiving objections from consumers.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a technique for efficiently acquiring and providing user profile information for customers.